You may be familiar with magnets in the form of refrigerator stickers or as fun toys, but they are much more than that. Magnets literally are the driving force in our society, as electromagnets use the repulsion of like poles to spin motors. Their existence is essential to our modern day life, and without the force of magnetism, we would likely not have much of the technology that is common in this modern age.
[4] Permanent magnets have been known about for thousands of years, but the answer to why they attract ferromagnetic materials at atomic levels is still not certain. [3] It is generally accepted that the reason why ferromagnetic materials such as iron, cobalt, and nickel have magnetic moments is sine they have unpaired electrons in their outer orbitals, and it is thought that the spin of an electron creates a small magnetic field, and when there are a lot of these fields together, they create a large magnetic field. There is no “discoverer” of magnets since they have been around as long as the Earth.
My project involves the use of the attraction of a ferromagnetic material, such as iron, to a permanent magnet, as opposed to electromagnets which require an external source of electricity, then using the force generated by the ferromagnetic material hitting the permanent magnet alongside kinetic energy to launch a steel ball bearing on the other side of the magnet. [2] I came up with this experiment after reading about a similar experiment from http://www.coolmagnetman.com/magInch.htm. I changed certain aspects of this experiment to suit my own experiment. Before I started my experiment, I expected the trial of 4 balls and 18 magnets to yield the greatest distance, since I reasoned that the pull of the magnets would not be as great as 27 magnets as to hold back to balls but the pull would accelerate the ball just fast enough as compared to the 9 magnets so that the speed would over weigh the extra pull that the 18 magnets had over the 9 magnets. The experiment from http://www.coolmagnetman.com/magInch.htm was inspired by a linear accelerator, which is far more complex than my experiment and the experiment on the website.
A common example of kinetic energy being transferred is Newton’s Cradle. [1] It is unknown as to who invented the Newton’s Cradle specifically, but Christiaan Huygens used pendulums to study collisions and in his book discusses the energy transfer from the collision of a moving body to one at rest, driving the one at rest. Kinetic energy, like magnetism, has always been around, so there is no "discoverer" of kinetic energy. In this experiment, the kinetic energy of the colliding ball bearing will transfer through the magnets into the ball farthest to the right, but unlike a Newton’s Cradle, the pull of the magnets will somewhat hold back the ball bearing to a certain extent.
Procedure
I started off with two aluminum bars (though replaceable with any non-magnetic bar), 6 ball bearings of 2 varying sizes, 27 neodymium or NID magnets, a book, masking tape, and a meter stick. I then taped together the two bars and propped them at a 30 degree angle using the book, securing the book in place with tape. Then I placed the meter stick parallel to the ramp and then secured both with tape. I used the tape to secure 9 magnets 6” away from the bottom of the ramp, and then stuck a ball bearing to the right of the magnets, making sure that the magnets hit the center of the ball. Then I placed a ball bearing 4” away from the left side of the magnets (if I felt that it pulled towards the magnets, then I moved it farther away). This was my the base level of the experiment. I started with 1 ball bearing to the right of the ball bearing to the right of the magnets, and then slowly moved the ball bearing to the left of the magnets until the magnets pulled it forward and the ball bearing hit the magnets. The ball of the farthest right launched forward, and then I recorded the farthest distance that it traveled. I repeated that 4 more times, and then added a ball bearing to the right of the previous ball bearing. I repeated the experiment with this setup, and then repeated the past 20 trials with the other size of ball bearing. After this, I repeated the past 40 trials two more times with 18 and 27 magnets.
Results
Average Distance in Inches of Small Ball Trials
9 Magnets
18 Magnets
27 Magnets
1 Small Ball
53
56.4
47.4
2 Small Balls
60
63
57
3 Small Balls
64.2
64.4
59.4
4 Small Balls
63.4
65.8
59.4
The t-test between the trials with 1 small ball and 9 magnets to 4 small balls and 9 magnets gave a p-value of 1.2811374 x 10-6.
The t-test between the trials with 1 small ball and 18 magnets to 4 small balls and 18 magnets gave a p-value of 1.2535219 x 10-7.
The t-test between the trials with 1 small ball and 27 magnets to 4 small balls and 27 magnets have a p-value of 4.2782196 x 10-9.
Average Distance in Inches of Large Ball Trials
9 Magnets
18 Magnets
27 Magnets
1 Large Ball
16
29
24.6
2 Large Balls
34
37.8
33.2
3 Large Balls
44.2
39.6
36.4
4 Large Balls
44.8
40.4
37.8
Conclusions
The t-test proved that there was a statistically significant difference between the trials with 1 ball and the trials with 4 balls.
Based on my results, it seems that the pairing of 4 small balls and 18 magnets yielded the furthest distance, meaning my hypothesis was right, and all of the large balls would not travel nearly as far as the shortest of small balls. I would think that the first observation is true since the 18 magnets would provide more pull than the 9 magnets, while requiring less distance for energy to travel than the 27 magnets. Also, the pulls of the magnets is not as strong on the 4th ball as opposed to the pull that the magnet had on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd ball. The distance that the ball traveled was more dependent on the pull of the magnets rather than the travel distance of the kinetic energy, though the travel distance is still an important factor. The large balls did not have the same result as the small balls, with the 9 magnets yielding the farthest distances, an this is most likely since the distance created by the larger balls that kinetic energy is required to travel through too great, and the 18 magnets with 4 small balls is about the same length as the 9 magnets with 4 large balls. The large balls probably traveled less than the small balls since they weighed approximately twice as much as the small balls. I also noticed that though the initial distances were farther with 18 magnets than with 9 magnets and 27 magnets, the distances that 18 and 9 magnets yielded with 3 and 4 small balls were very similar. That is likely the peak distance at which a ball will travel with the setup that I created, and the if maximum distances of 1-7 balls were put onto a chart, the chart would look like a parabola. I was not able to do this for the sake of time, but would recommend this to anybody who could spare the time. I faced no noticeable problems as this experiment was very simple, yet very fun. I would suggest, as another, simpler experiment, to use a non-ferromagnetic ball and compare the results to the ferromagnetic steel ball bearings.
Table of Contents
Variations in a Magnetic Ball Bearing Launcher
Alex
Introduction
You may be familiar with magnets in the form of refrigerator stickers or as fun toys, but they are much more than that. Magnets literally are the driving force in our society, as electromagnets use the repulsion of like poles to spin motors. Their existence is essential to our modern day life, and without the force of magnetism, we would likely not have much of the technology that is common in this modern age.
[4] Permanent magnets have been known about for thousands of years, but the answer to why they attract ferromagnetic materials at atomic levels is still not certain. [3] It is generally accepted that the reason why ferromagnetic materials such as iron, cobalt, and nickel have magnetic moments is sine they have unpaired electrons in their outer orbitals, and it is thought that the spin of an electron creates a small magnetic field, and when there are a lot of these fields together, they create a large magnetic field. There is no “discoverer” of magnets since they have been around as long as the Earth.
My project involves the use of the attraction of a ferromagnetic material, such as iron, to a permanent magnet, as opposed to electromagnets which require an external source of electricity, then using the force generated by the ferromagnetic material hitting the permanent magnet alongside kinetic energy to launch a steel ball bearing on the other side of the magnet. [2] I came up with this experiment after reading about a similar experiment from http://www.coolmagnetman.com/magInch.htm. I changed certain aspects of this experiment to suit my own experiment. Before I started my experiment, I expected the trial of 4 balls and 18 magnets to yield the greatest distance, since I reasoned that the pull of the magnets would not be as great as 27 magnets as to hold back to balls but the pull would accelerate the ball just fast enough as compared to the 9 magnets so that the speed would over weigh the extra pull that the 18 magnets had over the 9 magnets. The experiment from http://www.coolmagnetman.com/magInch.htm was inspired by a linear accelerator, which is far more complex than my experiment and the experiment on the website.
A common example of kinetic energy being transferred is Newton’s Cradle. [1] It is unknown as to who invented the Newton’s Cradle specifically, but Christiaan Huygens used pendulums to study collisions and in his book discusses the energy transfer from the collision of a moving body to one at rest, driving the one at rest. Kinetic energy, like magnetism, has always been around, so there is no "discoverer" of kinetic energy. In this experiment, the kinetic energy of the colliding ball bearing will transfer through the magnets into the ball farthest to the right, but unlike a Newton’s Cradle, the pull of the magnets will somewhat hold back the ball bearing to a certain extent.
Procedure
I started off with two aluminum bars (though replaceable with any non-magnetic bar), 6 ball bearings of 2 varying sizes, 27 neodymium or NID magnets, a book, masking tape, and a meter stick. I then taped together the two bars and propped them at a 30 degree angle using the book, securing the book in place with tape. Then I placed the meter stick parallel to the ramp and then secured both with tape. I used the tape to secure 9 magnets 6” away from the bottom of the ramp, and then stuck a ball bearing to the right of the magnets, making sure that the magnets hit the center of the ball. Then I placed a ball bearing 4” away from the left side of the magnets (if I felt that it pulled towards the magnets, then I moved it farther away). This was my the base level of the experiment. I started with 1 ball bearing to the right of the ball bearing to the right of the magnets, and then slowly moved the ball bearing to the left of the magnets until the magnets pulled it forward and the ball bearing hit the magnets. The ball of the farthest right launched forward, and then I recorded the farthest distance that it traveled. I repeated that 4 more times, and then added a ball bearing to the right of the previous ball bearing. I repeated the experiment with this setup, and then repeated the past 20 trials with the other size of ball bearing. After this, I repeated the past 40 trials two more times with 18 and 27 magnets.
Results
Average Distance in Inches of Small Ball Trials
The t-test between the trials with 1 small ball and 9 magnets to 4 small balls and 9 magnets gave a p-value of 1.2811374 x 10-6.
The t-test between the trials with 1 small ball and 18 magnets to 4 small balls and 18 magnets gave a p-value of 1.2535219 x 10-7.
The t-test between the trials with 1 small ball and 27 magnets to 4 small balls and 27 magnets have a p-value of 4.2782196 x 10-9.
Average Distance in Inches of Large Ball Trials
Conclusions
The t-test proved that there was a statistically significant difference between the trials with 1 ball and the trials with 4 balls.
Based on my results, it seems that the pairing of 4 small balls and 18 magnets yielded the furthest distance, meaning my hypothesis was right, and all of the large balls would not travel nearly as far as the shortest of small balls. I would think that the first observation is true since the 18 magnets would provide more pull than the 9 magnets, while requiring less distance for energy to travel than the 27 magnets. Also, the pulls of the magnets is not as strong on the 4th ball as opposed to the pull that the magnet had on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd ball. The distance that the ball traveled was more dependent on the pull of the magnets rather than the travel distance of the kinetic energy, though the travel distance is still an important factor. The large balls did not have the same result as the small balls, with the 9 magnets yielding the farthest distances, an this is most likely since the distance created by the larger balls that kinetic energy is required to travel through too great, and the 18 magnets with 4 small balls is about the same length as the 9 magnets with 4 large balls. The large balls probably traveled less than the small balls since they weighed approximately twice as much as the small balls. I also noticed that though the initial distances were farther with 18 magnets than with 9 magnets and 27 magnets, the distances that 18 and 9 magnets yielded with 3 and 4 small balls were very similar. That is likely the peak distance at which a ball will travel with the setup that I created, and the if maximum distances of 1-7 balls were put onto a chart, the chart would look like a parabola. I was not able to do this for the sake of time, but would recommend this to anybody who could spare the time. I faced no noticeable problems as this experiment was very simple, yet very fun. I would suggest, as another, simpler experiment, to use a non-ferromagnetic ball and compare the results to the ferromagnetic steel ball bearings.
References
1. http://www.coolmagnetman.com/maghow.htm
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton's_cradle
3. http://web.bomatec.ch/angebot/wissen/magnetismus_e.php
4. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/356975/magnet